Science and Health
with Key to The Scriptures
by Mary Baker Eddy
Chapter XIV - Recapitulation

 

Spiritual reflection
480:1
When the substance of Spirit appears in Christian Sci-
ence, the nothingness of matter is recognized. Where
the spirit of God is, and there is no place where God is
not, evil becomes nothing, – the opposite of the some-
thing of Spirit. If there is no spiritual reflection, then
there remains only the darkness of vacuity and not a trace
of heavenly tints.
Harmony from Spirit
480:8
Nerves are an element of the belief that there is sensa-
tion in matter, whereas matter is devoid of sensation.
Consciousness, as well as action, is governed
by Mind, – is in God, the origin and gov-
ernor of all that Science reveals. Material sense has
its realm apart from Science in the unreal. Harmonious
action proceeds from Spirit, God. inharmony has no
Principle; its action is erroneous and presupposes man
to be in matter. Inharmony would make matter the
cause as well as the effect of intelligence, or Soul, thus
attempting to separate Mind from God.
Evil non-existent
480:19
Man is not God, and God is not man. Again, God,
or good, never made man capable of sin. It is the oppo-
site of good – that is, evil – which seems to
make men capable of wrong-doing. Hence,
evil is but an illusion, and it has no real basis. Evil is a
false belief. God is not its author. The supposititious
parent of evil is a lie.
Vapor and nothingness
480:26
The Bible declares: "All things were made by Him
[the divine Word]; and without Him was not anything,
made that was made." This is the eternal
verity of divine Science. If sin, sickness, and
death were understood as nothingness, they would dis-
appear. As vapor melts before the sun, so evil would
vanish before the reality of good. One must hide the
481:1
other. How important, then, to choose good as the
reality! Man is tributary to God, Spirit, and to nothing
else. God's being is infinity, freedom, harmony, and
boundless bliss. "Where the Spirit of the Lord is,
there is liberty." Like the archpriests of yore, man is
free "to enter into the holiest," – the realm of God.
The fruit forbidden
481:7
Material sense never helps mortals to understand
Spirit, God. Through spiritual sense only, man com-
prehends and loves Deity. The various con-
tradictions of the Science of Mind by the ma-
terial senses do not change the unseen Truth, which re-
mains forever intact. The forbidden fruit of knowledge,
against which wisdom warns man, is the testimony of
error, declaring existence to be at the mercy of death,
and good and evil to be capable of commingling. This
is the significance of the Scripture concerning this "tree
of the knowledge of good and evil," – this growth of
material belief, of which it is said: "In the day that thou
eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Human hypotheses
first assume the reality of sickness, sin, and death, and
then assume the necessity of these evils because of their
admitted actuality. These human verdicts are the pro-
curers of all discord.
Sense and pure Soul
481:24
If Soul sins, it must be mortal. Sin has the elements
of self-destruction. It cannot sustain itself. If sin is
supported, God must uphold it, and this is
impossible, since Truth cannot support error.
Soul is the divine Principle of man and never sins, –
hence the immortality of Soul. In Science we learn that
it is material sense, not Soul, which sins; and it will be
found that it is the sense of sin which is lost, and not a
sinful soul. When reading the Scriptures, the substitu-
482:1
tion of the word sense for soul gives the exact meaning in
a majority of cases.
Soul defined
482:3
Human thought has adulterated the meaning of the
word soul through the hypothesis that soul is both an evil
and a good intelligence, resident in matter.
The proper use of the word soul can always
be gained by substituting the word God, where the deific
meaning is required. In other cases, use the word sense,
and you will have the scientific signification. As used
in Christian Science, Soul is properly the synonym of
Spirit, or God; but out of Science, soul is identical with
sense, with material sensation.
Sonship of Jesus
482:13
Question. – Is it important to understand these ex-
planations in order to heal the sick?
Answer. – It is, since Christ is "the way" and the
truth casting out all error. Jesus called himself "the
Son of man," but not the son of Joseph. As
woman is but a species of the genera, he was
literally the Son of Man. Jesus was the highest human
concept of the perfect man. He was inseparable from
Christ, the Messiah, – the divine idea of God outside
the flesh. This enabled Jesus to demonstrate his con-
trol over matter. Angels announced to the Wisemen of
old this dual appearing, and angels whisper it, through
faith, to the hungering heart in every age.
Sickness erroneous
482:26
Sickness is part of the error which Truth casts out.
Error will not expel error. Christian Science is the law
of Truth, which heals the sick, on the basis
of the one Mind or God. It can heal in no
other way, since the human, mortal mind so-called is not
a healer, but causes the belief in disease.
True healing transcendent
483:1
Then comes the question, how do drugs, hygiene, and
animal magnetism heal? It may be affirmed that they
do not heal, but only relieve suffering tempo-
rarily, exchanging one disease for another.
We classify disease as error, which nothing but Truth or
Mind can heal, and this Mind must be divine, not human.
Mind transcends all other power, and will ultimately su-
persede all other means in healing. In order to heal by
Science, you must not be ignorant of the moral and spir-
itual demands of Science nor disobey them. Moral igno-
rance or sin affects your demonstration, and hinders its
approach to the standard in Christian Science.
Terms adopted by the author
483:13
After the author's sacred discovery, she affixed the
name "Science" to Christianity, the name "error" to
corporeal sense, and the name "substance" to
Mind. Science has called the world to battle
over this issue and its demonstration, which
heals the sick, destroys error, and reveals the universal
harmony. To those natural Christian Scientists, the an-
cient worthies, and to Christ Jesus, God certainly revealed
the spirit of Christian Science, if not the absolute letter.
Science the way
483:22
Because the Science of Mind seems to bring into dis-
honor the ordinary scientific schools, which wrestle with
material observations alone, this Science has
met with opposition; but if any system honors
God, it ought to receive aid, not opposition, from all think-
ing persons. And Christian Science does honor God as
no other theory honors Him, and it does this in the way
of His appointing, by doing many wonderful works
through the divine name and nature. One must fulfil
one's mission without timidity or dissimulation, for to be
well done, the work must be done unselfishly. Christianity
484:1
will never be based on a divine Principle and so found to
be unerring, until its absolute Science is reached. When
this is accomplished, neither pride, prejudice, bigotry,
nor envy can wash away its foundation, for it is built upon
the rock, Christ.
Mindless methods
484:6
Question. – Does Christian Science, or metaphysical
healing, include medication, material hygiene, mesmer-
ism, hypnotism, theosophy, or spiritualism?
Answer. – Not one of them is included in it. In di-
vine Science, the supposed laws of matter yield to the
law of Mind. What are termed natural
science and material laws are the objective
states of mortal mind. The physical universe expresses
the conscious and unconscious thoughts of mortals.
Physical force and mortal mind are one. Drugs and
hygiene oppose the supremacy of the divine Mind.
Drugs and inert matter are unconscious, mindless. Cer-
tain results, supposed to proceed from drugs, are really
caused by the faith in them which the false human con-
sciousness is educated to feel.
Animal magnetism error
484:21
Mesmerism is mortal, material illusion. Animal mag-
netism is the voluntary or involuntary action of error
in all its forms; it is the human antipode
of divine Science. Science must triumph
over material sense, and Truth over error, thus putting
an end to the hypotheses involved in all false theories
and practices.
Error only ephemeral
484:28
Question. – Is materiality the concomitant of spirit-
uality, and is material sense a necessary preliminary to
the understanding and expression of Spirit?
485:1
Answer. – If error is necessary to define or to reveal
Truth, the answer is yes; but not otherwise. Material
sense is an absurd phrase, for matter has no
sensation. Science declares that Mind, not
matter, sees, hears, feels, speaks. Whatever contradicts
this statement is the false sense, which ever betrays
mortals into sickness, sin, and death. If the unimpor-
tant and evil appear, only soon to disappear because
of their uselessness or their iniquity, then these ephem-
eral views of error ought to be obliterated by Truth.
Why malign Christian Science for instructing mortals how
to make sin, disease, and death appear more and more
unreal?
Scientific translations
485:14
Emerge gently from matter into Spirit. Think not
to thwart the spiritual ultimate of all things, but come
naturally into Spirit through better health and
morals and as the result of spiritual growth.
Not death, but the understanding of Life, makes man im-
mortal. The belief that life can be in matter or soul in
body, and that man springs from dust or from an egg,
is the result of the mortal error which Christ, or Truth,
destroys by fulfilling the spiritual law of being, in which
man is perfect, even as the "Father which is in heaven
is perfect." If thought yields its dominion to other
powers, it cannot outline on the body its own beautiful
images, but it effaces them and delineates foreign agents,
called disease and sin.
Material beliefs
485:28
The heathen gods of mythology controlled war and
agriculture as much as nerves control sensation or
muscles measure strength. To say that
strength is in matter, is like saying that the
power is in the lever. The notion of any life or intelli-
486:1
gence in matter is without foundation in fact, and you
can have no faith in falsehood when you have learned
falsehood's true nature.
Sense versus Soul
486:4
Suppose one accident happens to the eye, another to
the ear, and so on, until every corporeal sense is quenched.
What is man's remedy? To die, that he may
regain these senses? Even then he must gain
spiritual understanding and spiritual sense in order to
possess immortal consciousness. Earth's preparatory
school must be improved to the utmost. In reality man
never dies. The belief that he dies will not establish his
scientific harmony. Death is not the result of Truth but
of error, and one error will not correct another.
Death an error
486:14
Jesus proved by the prints of the nails, that his body
was the same immediately after death as before. If death
restores sight, sound, and strength to man,
then death is not an enemy but a better friend
than Life. Alas for the blindness of belief, which makes
harmony conditional upon death and matter, and yet
supposes Mind unable to produce harmony! So long
as this error of belief remains, mortals will continue mor-
tal in belief and subject to chance and change.
Permanent sensibility
486:23
Sight, hearing, all the spiritual senses of man, are
eternal. They cannot be lost. Their reality and immor-
tality are in Spirit and understanding, not in
matter, – hence their permanence. If this
were not so, man would be speedily annihilated. If the
five corporeal senses were the medium through which
to understand God, then palsy, blindness, and deafness
would place man in a terrible situation, where he would
be like those "having no hope, and without God in the
world;" but as a matter of fact, these calamities often
487:1
drive mortals to seek and to find a higher sense of happi-
ness and existence.
Exercise of Mind-faculties
487:3
Life is deathless. Life is the origin and ultimate of
man, never attainable through death, but gained by walk-
ing in the pathway of Truth both before and
after that which is called death. There is more
Christianity in seeing and hearing spiritually
than materially. There is more Science in the perpetual
exercise of the Mind-faculties than in their loss. Lost
they cannot be, while Mind remains. The apprehension
of this gave sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf cen-
turies ago, and it will repeat the wonder.
Understanding versus belief
487:13
Question. – You speak of belief. Who or what is it
that believes?
Answer. – Spirit is all-knowing; this precludes the
need of believing. Matter cannot believe, and Mind
understands. The body cannot believe. The
believer and belief are one and are mortal.
Christian evidence is founded on Science or
demonstrable Truth, flowing from immortal Mind, and
there is in reality no such thing as mortal mind. Mere
belief is blindness without Principle from which to ex-
plain the reason of its hope. The belief that life is sen-
tient and intelligent matter is erroneous.
487:25
The Apostle James said, "Show me thy faith without
thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works."
The understanding that Life is God, Spirit, lengthens
our days by strengthening our trust in the deathless
reality of Life, its almightiness and immortality.
Confirmation by healing
487:30
This faith relies upon an understood Principle. This
Principle makes whole the diseased, and brings out the
488:1
enduring and harmonious phases of things. The result
of our teachings is their sufficient confirmation. When,
on the strength of these instructions, you are
able to banish a severe malady, the cure shows
that you understand this teaching, and therefore you re-
ceive the blessing of Truth.
Belief and firm trust
488:7
The Hebrew and Greek words often translated belief
differ somewhat in meaning from that conveyed by the
English verb believe; they have more the sig-
nificance of faith, understanding, trust, con-
stancy, firmness. Hence the Scriptures often appear in
our common version to approve and endorse belief, when
they mean to enforce the necessity of understanding.
All faculties from Mind
488:14
Question. – Do the five corporeal senses constitute
man?
Answer. – Christian Science sustains with immortal
proof the impossibility of any material sense, and defines
these so-called senses as mortal beliefs, the
testimony of which cannot be true either of
man or of his Maker. The corporeal senses can take no
cognizance of spiritual reality and immortality. Nerves
have no more sensation, apart from what belief be-
stows upon them, than the fibres of a plant. Mind alone
possesses all faculties, perception, and comprehension.
Therefore mental endowments are not at the mercy of
organization and decomposition, – otherwise the very
worms could unfashion man. If it were possible for the
real senses of man to be injured, Soul could reproduce
them in all their perfection; but they cannot be dis-
turbed nor destroyed, since they exist in immortal Mind,
not in matter.
Possibilities of Life
489:1
The less mind there is manifested in matter the better.
When the unthinking lobster loses its claw, the claw grows
again. If the Science of Life were understood,
it would be found that the senses of Mind are
never lost and that matter has no sensation. Then the
human limb would be replaced as readily as the lobster's
claw, – not with an artificial limb, but with the genuine
one. Any hypothesis which supposes life to be in matter
is an educated belief. In infancy this belief is not equal
to guiding the hand to the mouth; and as consciousness
develops, this belief goes out, – yields to the reality of
everlasting Life.
Decalogue disregarded
489:13
Corporeal sense defrauds and lies; it breaks all the
commands of the Mosaic Decalogue to meet its own de-
mands. How then can this sense be the God‑
given channel to man of divine blessings or
understanding? How can man, reflecting God, be de-
pendent on material means for knowing, hearing, seeing?
Who dares to say that the senses of man can be at one time
the medium for sinning against God, at another the me-
dium for obeying God? An affirmative reply would con-
tradict the Scripture, for the same fountain sendeth not
forth sweet waters and bitter.
Organic construction valueless
489:24
The corporeal senses are the only source of evil or
error. Christian Science shows them to be false, be-
cause matter has no sensation, and no organic
construction can give it hearing and sight nor
make it the medium of Mind. Outside the
material sense of things, all is harmony. A wrong sense
of God, man, and creation is non-sense, want of sense.
Mortal belief would have the material senses sometimes
good and sometimes bad. It assures mortals that there
490:1
is real pleasure in sin; but the grand truths of Christian
Science dispute this error.
Will-power an animal propensity
490:3
Will-power is but a product of belief, and this belief
commits depredations on harmony. Human will is an
animal propensity, not a faculty of Soul.
Hence it cannot govern man aright. Chris-
tian Science reveals Truth and Love as the
motive-powers of man. Will – blind, stubborn, and head-
long – cooperates with appetite and passion. From this
cooperation arises its evil. From this also comes its pow-
erlessness, since all power belongs to God, good.
Theories helpless
490:12
The Science of Mind needs to be understood. Until
it is understood, mortals are more or less deprived of
Truth. Human theories are helpless to make
man harmonious or immortal, since he is so
already, according to Christian Science. Our only need
is to know this and reduce to practice the real man's di-
vine Principle, Love
True nature and origin
490:19
"Quench not the Spirit. Despise not prophesyings."
Human belief – or knowledge gained from the so-called
material senses – would, by fair logic, anni-
hilate man along with the dissolving elements
of clay. The scientifically Christian explanations of the
nature and origin of man destroy all material sense with
immortal testimony. This immortal testimony ushers
in the spiritual sense of being, which can be obtained
in no other way.
Sleep an illusion
490:28
Sleep and mesmerism explain the mythical nature of
material sense. Sleep shows material sense as either
oblivion, nothingness, or an illusion or dream.
Under the mesmeric illusion of belief, a man
will think that he is freezing when he is warm, and that he
491:1
is swimming when he is on dry land. Needle-thrusts will
not hurt him. A delicious perfume will seem intolerable.
Animal magnetism thus uncovers material sense, and
shows it to be a belief without actual foundation or va-
lidity. Change the belief, and the sensation changes.
Destroy the belief, and the sensation disappears.
Man linked with Spirit
491:7
Material man is made up of involuntary and voluntary
error, of a negative right and a positive wrong, the latter
calling itself right. Man's spiritual individual-
ity is never wrong. It is the likeness of man's
Maker. Matter cannot connect mortals with the true
origin and facts of being, in which all must end. It is only
by acknowledging the supremacy of Spirit, which annuls
the claims of matter, that mortals can lay off mortality and
find the indissoluble spiritual link which establishes man
forever in the divine likeness, inseparable from his creator.
Material man as a dream
491:17
The belief that matter and mind are one, – that mat-
ter is awake at one time and asleep at another, some-
times presenting no appearance of mind, –
this belief culminates in another belief, that
man dies. Science reveals material man as never the real
being. The dream or belief goes on, whether our eyes are
closed or open. In sleep, memory and consciousness are
lost from the body, and they wander whither they will
apparently with their own separate embodiment. Per-
sonality is not the individuality of man. A wicked man
may have an attractive personality.
Spiritual existence the one fact
491:28
When we are awake, we dream of the pains and pleas-
ures of matter. Who will say, even though he
does not understand Christian Science, that
this dream – rather than the dreamer – may
not be mortal man? Who can rationally say otherwise,
492:1
when the dream leaves mortal man intact in body and
thought, although the so-called dreamer is unconscious?
For right reasoning there should be but one fact before
the thought, namely, spiritual existence. In reality there
is no other existence, since Life cannot be united to its
unlikeness, mortality.
Mind one and all
492:7
Being is holiness, harmony, immortality. It is already
proved that a knowledge of this, even in small degree,
will uplift the physical and moral standard
of mortals, will increase longevity, will purify
and elevate character. Thus progress will finally destroy
all error, and bring immortality to light. We know that
a statement proved to be good must be correct. New
thoughts are constantly obtaining the floor. These two
contradictory theories – that matter is something, or
that all is Mind – will dispute the ground, until one is
acknowledged to be the victor. Discussing his cam-
paign, General Grant said: "I propose to fight it out on
this line, if it takes all summer." Science says: All is
Mind and Mind's idea. You must fight it out on this
line. Matter can afford you no aid.
Scientific ultimatum
492:22
The notion that mind and matter commingle in the
human illusion as to sin, sickness, and death must even-
tually submit to the Science of Mind, which
denies this notion. God is Mind, and God is
infinite; hence all is Mind. On this statement rests the
Science of being, and the Principle of this Science is di-
vine, demonstrating harmony and immortality.
Victory for Truth
492:29
The conservative theory, long believed, is that there
are two factors, matter and mind, uniting on some im-
possible basis. This theory would keep truth and error
always at war. Victory would perch on neither banner.
493:1
On the other hand, Christian Science speedily shows
Truth to be triumphant. To corporeal sense, the sun
appears to rise and set, and the earth to stand
still; but astronomical science contradicts this,
and explains the solar system as working on a differ-
ent plan. All the evidence of physical sense and all the
knowledge obtained from physical sense must yield to
Science, to the immortal truth of all things.
Mental preparation
493:9
Question, – Will you explain sickness and show how it
is to be healed?
Answer. – The method of Christian Science Mind-heal-
ing is touched upon in a previous chapter entitled Christian
Science Practice. A full answer to the above
question involves teaching, which enables the
healer to demonstrate and prove for himself the Principle
and rule of Christian Science or metaphysical healing.
Mind destroys all ills
493:17
Mind must be found superior to all the beliefs of the
five corporeal senses, and able to destroy all ills. Sick-
ness is a belief, which must be annihilated by
the divine Mind. Disease is an experience of
so-called mortal mind. It is fear made manifest on the
body. Christian Science takes away this physical sense
of discord, just as it removes any other sense of moral or
mental inharmony. That man is material, and that mat-
ter suffers, – these propositions can only seem real and
natural in illusion. Any sense of soul in matter is not the
reality of being.
493:28
If Jesus awakened Lazarus from the dream, illusion, of
death, this proved that the Christ could improve on a false
sense. Who dares to doubt this consummate test of the
power and willingness of divine Mind to hold man forever
494:1
intact in his perfect state, and to govern man's entire
action? Jesus said: "Destroy this temple [body], and
in three days I [Mind] will raise it up;" and he did this
for tired humanity's reassurance.
Inexhaustible divine Love
494:5
Is it not a species of infidelity to believe that so great
a work as the Messiah's was done for himself or for God,
who needed no help from Jesus' example to
preserve the eternal harmony? But mortals
did need this help, and Jesus pointed the way for them.
Divine Love always has met and always will meet every
human need. It is not well to imagine that Jesus demon-
strated the divine power to heal only for a select number
or for a limited period of time, since to all mankind and
in every hour, divine Love supplies all good.
Reason and Science
494:15
The miracle of grace is no miracle to Love. Jesus
demonstrated the inability of corporeality, as well as the
infinite ability of Spirit, thus helping erring
human sense to flee from its own convictions
and seek safety in divine Science. Reason, rightly di-
rected, serves to correct the errors of corporeal sense; but
sin, sickness, and death will seem real (even as the ex-
periences of the sleeping dream seem real) until the Sci-
ence of man's eternal harmony breaks their illusion with
the unbroken reality of scientific being.
494:25
Which of these two theories concerning man are you
ready to accept? One is the mortal testimony, changing,
dying, unreal. The other is the eternal and real evidence,
bearing Truth's signet, its lap piled high with immortal
fruits.
Followers of Jesus
494:30
Our Master cast out devils (evils) and healed the sick.
It should be said of his followers also, that they cast fear
and all evil out of themselves and others and heal the sick.
495:1
God will heal the sick through man, whenever man is
governed by God. Truth casts out error now
as surely as it did nineteen centuries ago. All
of Truth is not understood; hence its healing power is not
fully demonstrated.
Destruction of all evil
495:6
If sickness is true or the idea of Truth, you cannot
destroy sickness, and it would be absurd to try. Then
classify sickness and error as our Master did,
when he spoke of the sick, "whom Satan hath
bound," and find a sovereign antidote for error in the life‑
giving power of Truth acting on human belief, a power
which opens the prison doors to such as are bound, and
sets the captive free physically and morally.
Steadfast and calm trust
495:14
When the illusion of sickness or sin tempts you, cling
steadfastly to God and His idea. Allow nothing but His
likeness to abide in your thought. Let neither
fear nor doubt overshadow your clear sense and
calm trust, that the recognition of life harmonious – as
Life eternally is – can destroy any painful sense of, or
belief in, that which Life is not. Let Christian Science,
instead of corporeal sense, support your understanding of
being, and this understanding will supplant error with
Truth, replace mortality with immortality, and silence dis-
cord with harmony.
Rudiments and growth
495:25
Question. – How can I progress most rapidly in the
understanding of Christian Science?
Answer. – Study thoroughly the letter and imbibe
the spirit. Adhere to the divine Principle of Chris-
tian Science and follow the behests of God,
abiding steadfastly in wisdom, Truth, and
Love. In the Science of Mind, you will soon ascertain
496:1
that error cannot destroy error. You will also learn
that in Science there is no transfer of evil suggestions
from one mortal to another, for there is but one Mind,
and this ever-present omnipotent Mind is reflected by
man and governs the entire universe. You will learn
that in Christian Science the first duty is to obey
God, to have one Mind, and to love another as
yourself.
Condition of progress
496:9
We all must learn that Life is God. Ask yourself:
Am I living the life that approaches the supreme good?
Am I demonstrating the healing power of
Truth and Love? If so then the way will
grow brighter "unto the perfect day." Your fruits
will prove what the understanding of God brings to man.
Hold perpetually this thought, – that it is the spiritual
idea, the Holy Ghost and Christ, which enables you to
demonstrate, with scientific certainty, the rule of healing,
based upon its divine Principle, Love, underlying, over-
lying, and encompassing all true being.
Triumph over death
496:20
"The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is
the law," – the law of mortal belief, at war with the
facts of immortal Life, even with the spiritual
law which says to the grave, "Where is thy
victory?" But "when this corruptible shall have put
on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on im-
mortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that
is written, Death is swallowed up in victory."
496:28
Question. – Have Christian Scientists any religious
creed?
Answer. – They have not, if by that term is meant
doctrinal beliefs. The following is a brief exposition of
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